Article:
Car owners whose air bags have been replaced in the past three years may have had dangerous counterfeit bags installed, the Obama administration warned Wednesday.

Only 0.1 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet is believed to be affected, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement. But industry officials briefed by the government said tens of thousands of car owners may be driving vehicles with counterfeit air bags. NHTSA testing has shown most of the counterfeit bags don't inflate or fail to inflate properly. In at least one case, a counterfeit bag fired shards of metal shrapnel on impact, the agency said.

NHTSA is asking car owners to check a government website, www.Safercar.gov, for information on how to contact a call center established by auto manufacturers to learn if their vehicle model is among those for which counterfeit air bags are known to have been made.
No deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, NHTSA said. But it's unclear whether police accident investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine one, industry officials said.
NHTSA has compiled a list of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit air bags may be available, but the agency cautioned that the full scope of the problem isn't clear yet and the list is expected to "evolve over time."

If a car is on the list and has had its air bags replaced during the past three years by a repair shop other than a new car dealership, NHTSA is asking owners to bring the vehicle into a dealership to be inspected at their own expense to determine whether the replaced air bags are counterfeit. Fees for checking out air bags could run $100 or more, industry officials said. Some types of cars have as many as eight air bags.
The counterfeit bags typically have been made to look like air bags made by automakers and usually include a manufacturer's logo. Government investigators believe many of the bags come from China, an industry official said.

The bags are marketed to auto body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including air bags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags, industry officials said.
But only 37 percent of auto dealers have their own body shops, according to information on the National Association of Automobile Dealers' website. Many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.

Consumers who bought replacement air bags online or who have purchased a used car that may have its airbags replaced in the past three years were also asked to check NHTSA's list.

Counterfeiting of a wide variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by government officials. In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600 counterfeit air bags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic, according to a report by the Charlotte Observer. The mechanic was tied by federal officials to another counterfeit air bag case last year in Tennessee, the report said.

Last February, Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn., to 37 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit air bags, according to a statement made at the time by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Zhensong was a part owner and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts, which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit, the statement said. In 2010, he traveled from China to Chattanooga to sell additional counterfeit air bags and other auto parts. The counterfeit air bags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto air bags that were torn down and used to make molds to produce the counterfeit bags. Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit air bags. The air bags were advertised on the Guangzhou Auto Parts website and sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic air bag, the statement said.

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Vehicles for which counterfeit air bags may be available, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The list is expected to evolve.

wtf! Another black eye for Chinese merchants looking to make a quick buck. These get-rich-quick schemes are getting bolder and bolder. If this guy was caught in China, he would have gotten the needle.

Ha.

Well, actually, I think the most appropriate penalty would be to put him inside a car that was just equipped with his special airbags, and then point him in the direction of an oncoming locomotive and say "Hope these work for you, bud!"

Well, actually, I think the most appropriate penalty would be to put him inside a car that was just equipped with his special airbags, and then point him in the direction of an oncoming locomotive and say "Hope these work for you, bud!"

These are the stories that will bring mfg back to the US. Eventually the initial P&L's people use to start these projects will put these "costs" into perspective and bet all these "money makers" are not as profitable when the complete picture is revealed. Imagine if the war in the middle east was put onto the bottom line of the oil companies instead of the taxpayers, think things would be quite different

I think the people at these shops ordering the parts for their customers are also complacent in this. If the airbags normally costs $700 to source and this dude is charging $50, don't you think something is wrong?!

I think the people at these shops ordering the parts for their customers are also complacent in this. If the airbags normally costs $700 to source and this dude is charging $50, don't you think something is wrong?!

There are definately 2 wrongs in the equation. The arguement i always hear when it comes to fake/replica parts in other industries, or even the car world is: " well we wouldnt make it, if there wasnt a market for it " then the flipside arguement " we wouldnt buy it if it wasnt made "

What came first? The chicken, or the egg?

Either way, messing with saftey equipment brings this bootleg parts biz in china to a new low.

There are definately 2 wrongs in the equation. The arguement i always hear when it comes to fake/replica parts in other industries, or even the car world is: " well we wouldnt make it, if there wasnt a market for it " then the flipside arguement " we wouldnt buy it if it wasnt made "

What came first? The chicken, or the egg?

Either way, messing with saftey equipment brings this bootleg parts biz in china to a new low.

but this is purposeful misrepresentation as an OEM brand. Your argument is for a company like Rota Wheels, who does not misrepresent design and manufacturing specs of Volks, BBS, etc...and market theirs directly and openingly as replica style wheels with different names and colors.

Yes, mostly linked to eastern European organized crime in the past and present.

There is also a scam where disreputable shops just put in an airbag (stolen or otherwise) and dont do any of required coding or electronics to have it work with the car..they just remove the SRS lights so people think they have a working airbag, until they get into an accident and realize they dont

There is also a scam where disreputable shops just put in an airbag (stolen or otherwise) and dont do any of required coding or electronics to have it work with the car..they just remove the SRS lights so people think they have a working airbag, until they get into an accident and realize they dont

but this is purposeful misrepresentation as an OEM brand. Your argument is for a company like Rota Wheels, who does not misrepresent design and manufacturing specs of Volks, BBS, etc...and market theirs directly and openingly as replica style wheels with different names and colors.

In my view, what this guy did is downright illegal

Rota "BBS RE reps":

I get what you are saying, but i meant it beyond just like replica wheels etc. Ive seen other cases where there have been straight up fake, labeled parts. Look at the luxury fashion goods industry, its nuts there!

My point still is that both the manufacturer and the customer blame one another for the existance of the replica part.

wtf! Another black eye for Chinese merchants looking to make a quick buck. These get-rich-quick schemes are getting bolder and bolder. If this guy was caught in China, he would have gotten the needle.

I wouldn't say that they are getting bolder in their schemes. Things sort of peaked (in the bad sense) with the melamine in their own kid's milk. Using a toxic agent to fool tests designed to detect dilution of the milk took things to about as bad as I hope we ever see.

It isn't as easy to say, "hopefully this milk will never be ingested". One might give the benefit of the doubt that the scum might have thought that the chance of an airbag deployment was slim, and that someone might survive even without the airbag...